


Pathways

by skybone



Category: Xena: Warrior Princess
Genre: Amazons - Freeform, Developing Relationship, F/F, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-24 09:11:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4913623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skybone/pseuds/skybone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU that retells <i>Hooves and Harlots</i> in a world in which the Warrior Princess never saved Gabrielle and the other Potadeian girls from the slavers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pathways

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shopfront](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopfront/gifts).



> I don't own the characters or bits of quoted dialogue or any of the Xenaverse, I'm just taking it out to play.

The day was hot and the trail was dusty, and it had been some time since Gabrielle had seen a stream; her waterskin had little left in it. She would need to find a spring or stream soon.

She heard the sound of horses before she saw them, and looked for cover; a number of horses generally indicated an armed party that would be better to avoid. Not all would be slavers, but she had no intention of risking being taken again. She saw a narrow trail that led off the main road, and took it.

The sounds of the riders passed and faded away, but Gabrielle did not return to the road. It was cooler under the trees, and she had no particular destination, at least not immediately; in the long term she was determined to make it to Athens. But she was not quite sure where she was, and for now she might as well follow this trail and see where it led.

She did not look upward, and so she did not notice the markers hanging from the trees. She simply walked, relaxed on this narrow path in a way that she had not been relaxed for many months.

And then, abruptly, bodies were falling from the sky around her, or so it seemed; it was only after a moment that she realized that they were not falling but dropping on ropes. She was surrounded.

They were women. This was both reassuring and not. It was reassuring because surely women would not do her harm; and it was not reassuring because she had never seen women like this, wearing frightening masks and leather and armour and bearing weapons, their bodies hard and muscled and scarred.

She might not have seen them, but she had loved hearing stories about them. These were Amazons.

“I come in peace!” she blurted, dropping her staff and raising her hands to show they were empty, then nervously locking them together to try to hide their shaking.

There were only four of them, though it had seemed like many more. The one with red hair frowned at her. “You know the Amazon symbol of peace.”

 _I do?_ “I ask for safe passage through your territory.”

“My name is Terreis,” said the woman. “You know the Amazon ways, and yet you’re not one of us.”

“She invades our territory,” said a blonde woman, scowling. She was particularly tough looking; Gabrielle could see the play of muscles in her biceps as she folded her arms in front of her. “We should take her to Queen Melosa.”

“Ephiny is right,” said Terreis. “We have to let Melosa decide.” She looked at Gabrielle’s face and said, “Don’t worry—she’s fair.”

“I’m not worried,” lied Gabrielle staunchly. “I’m going to see the Amazon Queen; I’m excited.”

But in truth she was terrified. It was all very well to love stories about Amazons, but those were _stories_. These women were very, very real, and their lack of softness frightened her. She had heard of their fighting prowess, and rumours about their dealings with men, or lack of dealings with men, any of which might or might not be true. She did not know if they kept slaves; if they did, would they make her a slave, having captured her? Perhaps it would not be so bad as—

No. She would rather die than be a slave again. That was why—but she would not think of that. If she was not taken as a slave, she would not have to—

No. Don’t think about it. Be ready to run.

But Terreis was kind enough, and spoke to her as they walked, asking her name and where she had come from. Gabrielle, skittish, answered cautiously, unsure of how much to give away.

“Were you a slave?” said the Amazon. Then, as Gabrielle froze, “Don’t worry, Gabrielle. The Amazons do not take women as slaves, and we do not return them to their owners.”

Gabrielle let out a breath. “Was it that obvious?”

“We have many former slaves with us,” said Terreis. “We know the signs.”

Gabrielle relaxed a little, though she was not certain whether she should believe the Amazon. Perhaps it would be all right.

They spoke more as they walked, and Terreis drew her out on many topics. “I had only begun to learn when Draco struck our village,” she found herself saying, “there was so much more. I still want to learn. I want to learn everything. I want to read philosophy and learn about history and science. But in my village they didn’t consider me a normal girl.” And then she was silent. She had let her enthusiasm carry her away and had said too much. It was not a good idea to give people information about yourself, especially about what you valued; information was a weapon.

“Women should be able to learn such things,” said Terreis. “Philosophy and history are among the first things taught to Amazon children.”

Gabrielle stared doubtfully. “Really?”

“It _is_ a man’s world, Gabrielle—not because it should be, but, because we let them have it. It’s because everyone believes in woman’s weakness. But women are not weak. The Amazon world is based on truth and a woman’s individual strength.”

Philosophy had not been mentioned in the stories about the Amazons; this was a surprise. It all sounded too good to be true. It made Gabrielle even more nervous. There must be a catch. There was always a catch.

But then their attention shifted abruptly, though Gabrielle could see no reason for it. “Amazons, retreat, to the trees!” shouted Terreis, and there was a flurry of activity. They disappeared upwards as a shower of arrows hit, leaving Gabrielle on the ground alone except for Terreis, who caught her arm and tried to pull her to shelter behind a tree. But then there was a gasp, and Terreis fell; one of the arrows had struck true. “Terreis!” cried out Gabrielle, flinging herself over the other woman’s body.

Moments later the arrows had stopped, and in the silence the other Amazons were dropping from the trees. “Look to see if it’s clear,” Ephiny snapped at one of the others, and then fell to her knees beside Terreis and Gabrielle. “Terreis!”

Gabrielle was upright now, cradling the stricken woman. The arrow... it was not good. Half choking, Terreis said, “You tried to save me.”

“Don’t talk,” said Gabrielle frantically. “Just keep up your strength.”

But Terreis, though losing ground quickly, was determined to speak. “What you did, only an Amazon would do for another Amazon. I want you to take my Right of Caste.”

“Terreis!” cried Ephiny.

“Please!” said Terreis.

“Okay, I’ll take it,” said Gabrielle, desperate to get her to stop talking. Would someone not _do_ something? Surely the Amazons were used to dealing with such serious wounds. “Just, don’t, don’t—”

But it was too late.

*           *           * ****

Ephiny had taken charge of the Amazons and commanded that they carry Terreis’ body back to the Amazon village; she herself disappeared into the forest. It was an uncomfortable walk, for Gabrielle was burdened with guilt. If Terreis had taken to the trees with the others, instead of trying to pull Gabrielle to safety, she would probably still have been alive. The Amazons with her were silent, whether from grief or anger, and walked with wary eyes. Gabrielle became progressively more frightened.

It was not a long walk to the village, the likes of which Gabrielle had never seen. She could never have imagined so many women bearing arms and clearly knowing how to use them, and busy with so many different tasks. Most of them wore armour, but not all. There were women doing the things that women normally did, of course, but there were others cleaning weapons, repairing armour, sparring... the things that men did, and more. And once she saw a woman cooking call a woman in armour over to stir the pot while she dealt with a squalling baby, and the warrior cheerfully did so, as if this was perfectly normal. But it was not. Gabrielle felt lost.

She saw the activity hesitate as the women saw what they were carrying, and then the silence grew, broken only by the sound of lamentations. They put the litter down in the central square of the village. Someone brought a blanket, and covered Terreis. One of the Amazons with Gabrielle stood by the litter, and the other disappeared toward a hut that was larger and grander than the rest.

“I am Eponin,” said the Amazon who stayed with the bier. “We will wait here for Queen Melosa.”

Women had begun to bring wood and stack it in a corner of the square. Others had begun to drum and dance and chant.

“What are they doing?” said Gabrielle.

“We will send Terreis to Artemis, the moon goddess,” said Eponin. “They are beginning the preparations.”

The wait was long. But eventually a woman with an ornate mask emerged from the largest hut and approached them. She pushed the mask up. She was dark-haired, tall and imposing. She was older than Terreis, but there was something similar in the shape of her face. She looked fierce and forbidding, and tense with grief, but she spoke calmly enough.

“I’m Melosa,” she said to Gabrielle. “I’m told you tried to save my sister. For that, I thank you. Someone will pay for this. It is likely that we will be at war soon.”

“At war?” said Gabrielle. “With who? Who attacked us?”

“Get your hands off me!” snarled a voice behind her, and Gabrielle turned to see—a Centaur. She gaped. Centaurs rarely frequented human villages; there was considerable hostility between the races. This Centaur was young. And he was securely bound.

“Animal!” It was Ephiny half dragging him along by the rope around his neck.

He tried to wrench away. “Hands off, witch!”

Ephiny was holding out a quiver of blue-fletched arrows very like the one that had taken Terreis. “These were his. I brought him down as he was escaping across the river.”

“You would never have caught me in the open field!”

Ephiny looked at him coldly. “I did catch you, on our land.”

“You’re Phantes, aren’t you?” said Melosa. The young centaur started.

“What? How did you—?”

“I make it a point to know my enemies,” said the Queen. She walked over to Phantes and backhanded him across the face. “You have until the end of our mourning period to make your peace with the gods.”

“Make peace with your own gods,” said the youth arrogantly, ignoring the blood on his mouth. “Do you think my people will allow you to kill the son of Tyldus?”

Melosa’s expression had not changed through the entire encounter; it showed only an implacable anger. “Take him away.” Ephiny pulled Phantes roughly away.

“Why would he do such a thing?” asked Gabrielle. She had not really expected an answer, but the Queen turned to her.

“Near the river, there’s a village of Centaurs and men.” said Melosa. “They want our hunting grounds. And now they’ve gone too far.” Her face was frightening in its lack of expression; she might as well have been wearing her mask. One of the Amazons was signalling her; she turned away and went to her hut, and Gabrielle let out a breath she had not realized she was holding. There were two armed men waiting for the Queen; she disappeared through her doorway and one followed her, leaving the other standing outside.

“The Queen will have more to say to you soon,” said Eponin, “But she must first speak to Krykus.”

“Who is he?” said Gabrielle.

“A warlord,” said Eponin. “We have an agreement with him; we leave him alone, he leaves us alone. He is here because he had arranged to come to negotiate about the use of a particular trail at the edges of our land. Queen Melosa will wish to be sure that he will not interfere in any war against the Centaurs.”

*           *           * ****

Someone called Eponin away, leaving Gabrielle alone. No one had said that she couldn’t leave the square, so she wandered around the village, exploring. There were so many things to see. The buildings were not like those in Gabrielle’s village; many were built half into caves, with a wooden framework supporting panels for walls and thatched roofs extending outward. It occurred to her that they looked as if they could be disassembled and reassembled in different ways; perhaps this was why they were made in the way they were. They were ornately carved and painted and decorated with skeins of dyed yarn and feathers. They seemed strange, but not unpleasant. Eventually she came to a stable, guarded by a couple of Amazons. “May I go in?” she asked.

“If you like,” they said. “Just be careful of the prisoner.”

The stable was dim after the bright afternoon sun, and full of horses... and one Centaur, still bound, and confined in a stall. She looked at him and he stared arrogantly back at her. It seemed unlikely that that attack on the Amazons, which had involved a great number of arrows, could only involve one Centaur, and that he would stay around long enough to be caught.

“Did you kill Terreis?” she asked.

“Terreis?” said Phantes. “The Amazon had a name, did she?”

He hadn’t answered her question. “Did you kill her?”

“Would you believe me if I said I didn’t?” he said.

“It just seems strange that the son of the Centaur leader would be a murderer,” said Gabrielle.

“Maybe it wasn’t murder,” said Phantes angrily. “Maybe it was the opening of a war that should have happened a long time ago.”

“Well, if it was, it was a pretty stupid way to begin it,” said Gabrielle. “With just one attacker? And you got captured awfully easily. I thought Centaurs were supposed to be smarter than that.”

“Amazons aren’t known for asking questions,” said Phantes sullenly.

“I’m not an Amazon,” said Gabrielle. “Did you kill her?”

“I’d kill ‘em all if I could,” he said viciously. “And maybe I’ll get my chance, if my father can still muster the courage for battle.”

She sighed and walked away. He didn’t seem to be the brightest of flames. But she didn’t get the feeling that he was the one who had killed Terreis.

*           *           * ****

“Gabrielle,” said Ephiny.

Gabrielle turned. Ephiny and Melosa had approached so silently she had not heard them. “About the Right of Caste,” said Melosa, who was frowning. “With her dying wish, Terreis bestowed all her rights and possessions to you—and her position.”

Gabrielle had forgotten all about Terreis’s plea to her. Position? “Wait,” she said. “You mean, I’m an Amazon?”

“Terreis was my true sister—the next in the royal line,” said Melosa. “You’re an Amazon _Princess_.” She did not look entirely pleased about this. She looked at Ephiny. “Make sure she’s taught.” And she walked away.

Ephiny did not look entirely pleased either; she was still frowning. Gabrielle had no idea what she herself looked like; the shock had taken her well beyond her usual self-possession, and she was not quite sure where. 

*           *           * ****

They lit the pyre for Terreis that night, and gave her to Artemis in a ceremony that Gabrielle found both strange and sad. She was glad to finally get a chance to be alone and try to rest. They had given her Terreis’s hut, which was to her eyes large and well furnished and thoroughly impressive, and very lonely in its emptiness; she did not sleep well that night, her few belongings placed on top of a trunk. It was clear that the Amazons assumed that she would stay with them. Gabrielle did not plan to dissuade them of this assumption; she thought that staying with them would likely be a good idea, at least for a time.

In the morning they formally gave her Terreis’s belongings, a transfer of ownership that involved the Queen and a ritualized speech to which she had no idea how to respond, a ceremony which she found extremely disturbing. Luckily it was short, and the Queen, whom Gabrielle found quite terrifying, left immediately afterwards.

They also insisted that she wear Terreis’s clothes, and two Amazons proceeded to dress her. Gabrielle and Terreis had been about the same size, so the clothing fit well with a little adjusting, but it was designed for scouting and battle, involved a great deal of leather, and was far more revealing than the clothes women in these lands usually wore. She felt the air touch her skin in unexpected places and was unnerved.

And then there was armour, which was entirely beyond her experience; she had to be taught how to put it on, and it was complicated. One thing had to be fastened before another, and she kept getting the order wrong and having to start over. But it was beautifully made, with beadwork patterning on the leather and embossing on the metal. Afterwards she looked down the length of her body and felt as if it belonged to someone else, someone older and much more competent. It was a shame that her body belonged to her, and not that person.

When she emerged from the hut, there was a young woman standing nearby who gave her a hard look. Gabrielle tried to find her bravado. “What is it?” she said.

The woman reached out and touched the beadwork on one shoulderpiece. “I made these for her, the year she took her place as a full warrior. She was barely beyond childhood then, but she was already more than the rest of us who were her agemates, and had proved herself. She has always been ahead of us. And now to see her clothing on you...” Her face contorted with grief. “I did as she willed, all my life, content to follow her. I would strike you down for daring to wear this, but that too is as she willed.” And she walked away.

Gabrielle swallowed hard. She wished she had never accepted the Right of Caste, if it was to carry such enmity from women from whom she only wished goodwill.

The training of Amazons was serious business, evidently. Ephiny approached after the clothing had been dealt with and informed her that she had arranged for her to be taught by a series of mentors, and explained what sounded like a hard schedule. “You have a great deal to learn,” said the warrior. “Our girls learn these things by the time they are twelve. It will be difficult for your to learn it now, as you are so much older.”

Gabrielle disliked her dismissive tone. She might not have learned what the Amazons thought was useful, but she had learned everything she was allowed to, and she was not stupid. And she could read and write, which was rare among women, though it seemed that the Amazons took it for granted. “Oh, surely I’ll have it all in a week or so,” she said blithely, and Ephiny gave her a look of distaste. She would have to be careful. When faced with the assumption that she was only a feeble village maiden, she found that she wanted to goad them, but that could be dangerous. Judging by Ephiny, Amazons seemed to have no sense of humour, or at least they did not respond well to the kind that was sarcastic and barbed.

She had assumed the lessons would include weapons training, but there were many things she had not expected on Ephiny’s list: healing, the history of the Amazons and of this and other lands, even philosophy. Then there was instruction in the gathering and use of herbs. This was something she already knew a good deal about, for which she was very grateful—it made her feel less of a fool to know that she probably already had a good grounding in some of what they wanted her to learn. But there was not very much that they wanted her to learn that she already knew. Amazons seemed to have very different ideas as to what women should learn than the villagers in Potadeia.

She had been speaking with the woman who would be instructing her in healing when Ephiny appeared again and said, “Come.” And then, as Gabrielle did not respond immediately, “Now.”

Gabrielle had been increasingly frustrated with the contempt Ephiny showed for her, and finally snapped. “I’m sorry, you must have mistaken me for a slave,” she said.

Ephiny looked utterly shocked. She opened her mouth, shut it again, and then finally said with a strained politeness that did not disguise her barely repressed annoyance, “I beg your pardon. Would you come with me?”

“That’s better,” said Gabrielle, and followed her. She would take her victories where she could.

The warrior led her to a rack of weapons. There were a number of women nearby who were sparring, or watching those who sparred; these seemed to be weapons used for training. “From birth, every Amazon is taught to use weapons. Do you have a knife?”

Gabrielle carried a small knife with her; she had transferred it, with its sheath, to her belt when she put on Terreis’s gear. She showed it. Ephiny’s mouth quirked contemptuously and one or two of the other women laughed. “That is only a knife by courtesy,” the Amazon said. “We will find you a proper knife eventually. But for now we will start you with a fighting staff. Eponin.”

“A staff is something everyone might carry,” said Eponin, handing her a simple pole that was well-smoothed by use, “so it is often not seen as a weapon. But it can be a very powerful one.”

Gabrielle had never been trained in any martial arts. She had picked up a few useful scrapping techniques as a slave, a necessity for self defense in that rough world, but they were not helpful here. She found managing even such a non-lethal weapon as a staff challenging. It was frustrating, but interesting, despite the fact that she tended to hit herself more often than the training dummy.

After the first hour Ephiny reappeared, and said to Eponin, “Report.”

“She’s not bad,” said the other Amazon to Gabrielle’s surprise, “just a little rough.”

“I’m getting the idea, though,” said Gabrielle. “You know, it’s pretty fun when it’s working.”

“Fun?” said Ephiny coldly, lifting an elaborate staff. “This fighting staff was my first weapon. My mother passed it on to me. It has saved my life more than once.” She spun the weapon. “Centaurs have certain strengths and weaknesses. They’re fast and agile. We use that to our advantage. As a centaur passes at full gallop, the staff goes here,” and she demonstrated the moves with a nearby horse, “to crack the knee at the joint. This splits the leg forward and drops him to the ground. As the centaur falls, a strike to the lower shoulder dislocates the two front legs. Once the centaur is on the ground, an overhead strike—breaks the neck. Death is immediate—if they’re lucky. Still fun?”

Gabrielle stared at her. What could she say? She knew all too well, from personal experience, that there was nothing fun about killing someone. She had done it once, while escaping from captivity, and knew she would do it again if she had to. But she had voided her stomach after, and there had been nightmares. She had hated it, and had hated what doing it had made her.

But there _was_ pleasure in the learning to do something well, to find her way to the smooth pattern of moves and countermoves that were like a dance. That was what she had been talking about. But Ephiny had made dismissive assumptions about her meaning and treated her like a spoiled brat who could not see the consequences of action.

But how could she say all that to this arrogant Amazon? She could not.

“Yeah, still fun,” she said defiantly, pleased to see Ephiny scowl.

Terreis may have given Gabrielle her Right of Caste, but it was clear that many of the Amazons didn’t like it, didn’t respect her in the least, and thought the gift wasted. Gabrielle had only two choices: she could leave, or she could put up with it and prove that she could learn. And she _could_ learn; she was intelligent and she was stubborn. The Amazons could teach her skills that were useful, that could protect her later; she would learn everything she could and then leave them to their haughty ways.

And while she was with them, she could try to send word to her parents that she was alive. And maybe the Amazons would be able to help her find Lilla.

“What will happen to Phantes?” she said. It was not really changing the subject; they had been discussing killing Centaurs, after all.

“The mourning period for Terreis will last for three days, from this dawn until nightfall on the third day,” said Ephiny. “When it is over he will be executed.”

Gabrielle hesitated. “I talked to him. I’m not sure he did kill Terreis.”

Ephiny stared at her. “You saw her fall. You saw the arrows.”

“There were too many arrows to come from only one person,” said Gabrielle. “So why was he alone? Why was it so easy for you to capture him?”

“You ask me how a centaur thinks?” said Ephiny in disbelief. “They are animals! Why should you expect reason from them?”

“Because even I know that they have fought human armies to a standstill,” said Gabrielle with some heat. “An animal is not capable of strategy; centaurs obviously are.”

Ephiny was scowling. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Maybe not,” said Gabrielle, thoroughly annoyed by now, “but I don’t think you do either. And anyway, why not keep him as a hostage against attack after the end of the mourning period? If you don’t _want_ a war that would be the sensible thing to do. Or is all this just an excuse for a war?”

“Terreis is _dead_ ,” said Ephiny, outraged.

“Then why not investigate her death?” said Gabrielle. “Look, I was a slave to a warlord. No one pays attention to slaves, so we see a lot. I’ve seen what happens when people plot and plan, and this doesn’t feel like a bunch of Centaurs wandered by and just happened to take shots at Amazons, and then left behind the son of their leader when they ran. This stinks of plotting. It may be Centaur plotting, though I can’t see an advantage for them in it. Or it may be someone else’s plot.”

Ephiny made an disgusted sound. “Not everything is so complicated.” And she walked away.

Apparently she had no arguments left. Gabrielle thought she might well count it as a victory of sorts. She turned back to Eponin, who had been carefully ignoring both of them through the argument, and resuming her training with the staff.

*           *           * ****

Later Gabrielle saw Ephiny come out of the stables where Phantes was held. She was still scowling, but her frown looked more as if she was working out a puzzle than purely angry. She looked in Gabrielle’s direction and an expression of annoyance crossed her face, and she turned away.

If Phantes was innocent, he would be killed in three days. Less than that, now. The Amazons didn’t seem to care about proving his guilt; their hatred set their expectations. She had not been able to persuade Ephiny that something else was going on, and certainly the Queen was not likely to listen to her, but her intuition, which hard experience had taught her to trust, told her that there was.

It was not right. There must be something that she could do. Perhaps there was evidence where the attack happened—it was not so far away. There would be no one to watch her come and go from Terreis’s hut. She would slip out tonight and see what she could find.

*           *           * ****

She couldn’t think of how to get past the sentries; she knew her skills were not up to passing undetected. In the end she simply decided to bluff, walking past the sentry on the main trail to the village and nodding to her. “Where are you going?” the woman asked.

“There’s a log in a clearing just past that turn,” said Gabrielle truthfully, having explored a little during the day, “do you know the one? It looks like an excellent place to sit and think.”

“I know it,” said the woman. “It is close enough to the village to be safe if you wish to sit there; but be careful and do not stray.”

It was very, very dark in the trees, and the trail was hard to follow, even though she had waited for the moon to rise before setting out. Gabrielle blundered off it more than once and found her way back only with difficulty. But eventually she thought she had found the place where the attack happened, a moonlit clearing with badly trampled grass.

Standing in the deep shadows at the edge of the clearing, she looked around and thought that she probably had made a mistake in coming there at night. She was not a trained tracker; how could she expect to find anything? Well, she was here; she might as well look around.

She took a step forward and a body hit her, slamming her against the ground. Half winded and completely panicked, she staggered up and tried to run, but her attacker simply knocked her down again, this time pinning her beneath their body. She bucked and fought, but they shifted their weight, and it was useless.

Then a familiar voice snarled, “Hold still or I will cut your throat,” and she stopped moving.

“Ephiny?”

There was a pause. “Gabrielle?” The Amazon’s voice was suspicious and unfriendly. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see if I could find anything to show who attacked us,” said Gabrielle, abruptly aware of the weight of the other woman and the way their bodies fit together and the bare skin pressing against hers and her entirely inappropriate reaction to it.

Really, Amazon garb was quite... disconcerting.

“We seem to have had the same idea,” said Ephiny, rolling off her. “I came to take another look.”

“Why?” said Gabrielle. “I thought you believed without question that he was guilty.”

Ephiny hesitated. Her face was in shadow and Gabrielle couldn’t see her expression. “I went to talk to him,” she said eventually. “He said that he did not kill Terreis. He swore it on his father’s name. I do not believe that he was lying.”

Gabrielle sat up. “Well, that’s good, isn’t it?” Ephiny said nothing. “Isn’t it?”

“Queen Melosa does not believe that he spoke the truth,” said the Amazon in an uninflected voice. “She will have him executed in two days if proof of his innocence is not found, and she has no interest in looking for that proof.”

“Well then, we’d better find some, hadn’t we?” said Gabrielle, getting to her feet.

It took a little while. Gabrielle had no idea what she was looking for, but Ephiny seemed confident in her searching, and after a bit she sniffed and then moved into the shadows beneath some thick bushes, and then pushed through them into moonlight again. Then she knelt and said, “Here.”

Gabrielle looked down at... a pile of horse manure. “Um...”

“It’s full of raw hay stalks,” said Ephiny. “Centaurs don’t eat hay.”

“But that means—” said Gabrielle.

“Yes. Someone on horseback was here.” Ephiny’s voice had gone very cold. “And I’ll bet I know just who. Right now there are three powers in the area, fairly equally balanced. But if we went to war with the Centaurs, at the very least both sides would be weakened.”

“Krykus?” said Gabrielle.

Ephiny gave her a surprised look. “Yes. Krykus.”

“But how did he know Phantes was across the river?”

“I don’t know,” said Ephiny. “But I’m going to find out.”

“What will you do? Will you tell Queen Melosa?”

“I’m not sure she would listen,” said Ephiny. “I’m going to go and talk to Tyldus. If he can be persuaded not to attack us over his son’s capture—we need more time. Look, I’ll put some of the—evidence—in a pouch for you to take. If I don’t come back tomorrow, show it to Queen Melosa, otherwise just keep it safe. Can you find your way back to the camp alone?”

“Of course,” said Gabrielle stoutly. “Um... if you can show me the start of the trail.”

*           *           * ****

She did find her way back to the camp, in the end, passing the sentry with a smile and nodding at the woman’s observation that she must have had a great deal of thinking to do. She didn’t think that anyone else had noticed her absence; there was a great deal of coming and going and many people were still up, even though the hour was late. Gabrielle slipped into her hut, stowed the pouch of evidence, and crawled thankfully into her bedroll.

*           *           * ****

By the time Ephiny returned her absence had been noted. Apparently Amazons simply did not go off on their own without telling someone, so initially the response to her disappearance was concern: had something happened to her? Gabrielle kept her mouth shut and hoped that it would not occur to anyone that she might know of the warrior’s whereabouts. She began training in woodcraft, and then spent an hour with the blacksmith, learning about the care and maintenance of weapons.

Ephiny reappeared around noon, in the company of a group of Amazons who had been sent to search for her, and was brought before the Queen. “She came across the river from the Centaur’s side,” said the leader. Melosa stared at her, frowning.

“Is that true?”

“Yes,” said Ephiny. “I went to speak to Tyldus.”

“You went to our _enemy_?” said Melosa incredulously, cutting off what the warrior had been about to say. “I cannot believe you would do that!”

“I went to find out who knew that Phantes had come onto our lands,” said Ephiny stiffly, “and to tell Tyldus I did not believe in his son’s guilt and to ask for time to find the truth.”

Melosa came to her feet. “You _dare_! That is treason!”

“No, it is not,” said Ephiny, though she had gone very white. “It would be treasonous to allow another person to manipulate us into a war against our interests.”

“No one is manipulating us!” roared Melosa. “The centaurs killed my sister, and we will have justice for it! Phantes will be executed tomorrow at nightfall, when the period of mourning ends!”

“No!” said Gabrielle. She didn’t realize how loudly she’d said it until she found them all looking at her. She swallowed. “No,” she said again. “I was with Ephiny when she found evidence. It was someone on horseback who shot the arrows that killed Terreis. I have the evidence—here. The proof’s in the pouch. We found this where we were attacked. It has hay sprouts in it. Centaurs don’t eat hay.” She opened the pouch and dumped the contents on the ground.

“Be quiet, fool,” said Melosa. “That proves nothing. Anyone could have ridden by. It could have been an Amazon, for all of that.”

“No,” said Ephiny urgently. “I found it in a hiding place in thick bushes. They’d been cut so that several people could see but not be seen, and so that there was a clear escape route. The attack was planned, and it was not executed by a centaur.”

Melosa hesitated. “Terreis gave me her Right of Caste,” said Gabrielle quickly. “Doesn’t that give me the right to speak? The person who would most benefit from a war between the Amazons and Centaurs is Krykus. He would be left in a much more powerful position, wouldn’t he? If the Centaurs and Amazons kill each other, those who are left wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight against him.”

There was a long silence. Then Melosa said slowly and almost angrily, “What did Tyldus say?”

“He didn’t want to listen,” said Ephiny, “but in the end he heard me out. He did not exactly believe me... but he allowed me to leave. He did not know how anyone outside their people might have known where Phantes was going, though certainly many people there knew that he planned to trespass. Phantes had bragged to some that he was going to go onto Amazon lands to hunt, despite his father’s orders against it. If it was Krykus, someone in the Centaur camp must have betrayed him. I don’t think Tyldus liked that idea at all. But he said that he would give us until noon tomorrow to find proof that Krykus is behind this.”

There was an even longer silence. “The question of your treason and your punishment for it will be put on hold,” Melosa finally said to Ephiny. “Go to Krykus’s camp tonight. Take a small party, and look for evidence. If you cannot find it, Phantes will be executed. But if you do... we will take this war to Krykus.”

“Can I go with them?” said Gabrielle hopefully. She might not be able to fight, but she sensed that there was a story in this.

“No,” said Melosa shortly. “You do not have the skills.” She turned away and walked into her hut.

Oh well, she had not really expected the Queen to give her permission. “Well, that went well!” said Gabrielle cheerfully to Ephiny.

“Apart from being called a traitor?” the Amazon said bitterly.

“They’ll come around when you find the evidence, you’ll see,” said Gabrielle confidently. The warrior rolled her eyes.

*           *           * ****

The rest of the day, as with the first part, was spent in training. The healer was pleased with her knowledge of herbs, and said so. The storyteller began to teach her the history of the Amazons, and it was fascinating. And of course there was more staff practice with Eponin.

She felt Ephiny’s eyes on her at different times during the day. It was... uncomfortable. She knew that the Amazon did not approve of her; the sense of being watched and evaluated made her angry and strangely alert; she felt as if all her senses were tingling. Ephiny thought she was a useless fool. She was determined to prove the Amazon’s assessment wrong.

And then there was the question of the expedition to Krykus’s camp. As a slave Gabrielle had been forced to be obedient, but it had roused something in her that was fierce and angry and altogether uncooperative. Slaves, of course, could not refuse orders, but as she had learned, there were other ways to resist. A slave owner might never know of them, but the slaves did, and it gave them heart.

Her natural impulsiveness sometimes led to rash choices, and her experience as a slave left her with a strong disinclination to obey orders. But the impulsive decision to look for evidence of Phantes’ innocence had paid off, even if it had been Ephiny that found it, not herself. In her current state of elevated nervous energy she saw no reason why she should not accompany the Amazons who went to spy on Krykus; they did not believe in Phantes the way she and Ephiny did, and would not look as hard for evidence of his innocence.

They would not take her, and Melosa had forbidden her to go; but that did not mean she could not be there. She would follow them. She would look for evidence as well.

She was very glad that some of her woodcraft instruction had been in moving quietly, because it was hard to follow the Amazons without being noticed; the moonlight showed less of their movements than she had expected, and she had to keep closer than she liked. Once or twice she thought she saw Ephiny look around, but they did nothing, so they must have decided that an animal had made a sound.

Krykus’s camp was well guarded, but the Amazons were expert at finding their way past sentries, and Gabrielle managed to follow as far as the edge of the camp. But staying uncaught was clearly going to be more difficult than she had expected it to be. She hesitated in the bushes as the Amazons melted into the shadows near the tents. If she tried to follow and was caught, she would give them away. That would be bad. It might be better, safer for all, to simply wait until they emerged. She could let them know she was there then; they might be annoyed but there would be nothing they could do about it. And she could watch; watching carefully often taught you something, a lesson she had learned well as a slave.

Yes, that was the best plan.

For quite some time there was no sign of the Amazons, and no disturbance. But then, suddenly, there was an uproar, shouting and the sound of swords. The Amazons must have been caught. She nervously crouched in a darker patch of the bushes as figures moved close by. But then she heard a voice.

“Do you have them?”

“Yes.”

“And Ephiny?”

“She ordered us to get word to Melosa, without trying to rescue her. We’ll come back for her in strength.”

And in a rustle of leaves, they were gone. She did not even have time to speak. And then heavy footsteps thumped past her with much shouting; and then a voice called imperatively. “Let them go. It makes no difference.” And the footsteps came back.

She did not have the Amazons to lead her back to their camp, and she was no longer sure that she had the skill to find it on her own. But in any case, they had left Ephiny behind; she must be a prisoner. Perhaps she was injured.

The Amazons would rescue her, surely. But it would take time for them to bring reinforcements, and in the meantime anything could happen. And Ephiny—something could happen to Ephiny. Gabrielle had been a warlord’s slave; she knew that hostages were not necessarily returned in the condition in which they were taken, if they were returned at all.

It took a while before things calmed down. There was still a great deal of shouting, eventually settling to a lower level, and once a woman’s voice, a startled reactive sound of pain quickly cut off. Gabrielle winced. But then the voices came closer to the side of the camp she was near. “Put her in here,” said one. “Keep the bitch well guarded. Krykus will deal with her later.”

Gabrielle had seen that there were women in the camp. It was clear that they were slaves, there to cook and clean and service the men. Their clothing was dull and nondescript, similar to what Gabrielle had worn as a slave. Someone had been washing; there was clothing hung to dry from trees by the camp. Women’s clothing.

She circled round to the trees and found a dress that seemed likely to fit, snagged it, and retreated to change. It fit reasonably well, but felt odd, as if it was a skin she had shed; which was strange in itself, given how unfamiliar she found the Amazon leathers. She bundled those up carefully, noted the tree she hid them behind, and walked through the hanging clothes into the camp.

“Where have you been?” snarled a guard.

“Checking laundry,” she replied in a dull tone, nodding toward the tree, and kept going.

He didn’t question her further. He didn’t follow her. He didn’t even recognize that he had never seen her before. She was a slave, and one slave was indistinguishable from another for men like this, at least at night.

She hated it. She had sworn that she would die before becoming a slave again, and yet here she was.

The women were not fooled; she had not expected them to be. She made a slave sign to them and their eyes flickered. She had gambled that they would not give her away, and they did not. The oldest one handed her a bowl of nondescript stew from the pot over the fire. “Take this to the prisoner,” she said.

Gabrielle nodded and carried it to the tent that the woman had indicated. There were two guards outside. “What’s this?” said one.

“Food for the prisoner,” said Gabrielle in a bored voice. “Gotta keep her strength up, right?”

“Right,” said the other guard with a nasty grin. “She’ll need it for the party after Krykus finishes with her. But you’ll have to feed her. She can’t manage a spoon at the moment.”

“More bloody trouble than it’s worth,” grumbled Gabrielle as they let her in. “Always takes forever to feed ‘em when they’re tied, and it’s gods-cursed messy.”

It was hard to see in the tent. There seemed to be a couple of bedrolls, and one of them had a twitching lump on it. Gabrielle dropped to her hands and knees and saw the glint of Ephiny’s eyes following her. The Amazon’s arms and legs were bound. “Free me!” she hissed.

“That _was_ the plan,” muttered Gabrielle.

Her little knife might not seem a knife to the Amazons, but it was sharp, and sliced through the rope around Ephiny’s wrists with very little sound, and then the Amazon pereptorily took the blade, much to Gabrielle’s annoyance, and cut through the rest to free herself. “I need my armour and weapons,” she whispered, looking around. There was no sign of either in the tent.

Gabrielle stared. “Are you out of your mind? They could come in at any time. We need to get out of here. The others went for the camp, they didn’t stay to help.”

“How do you know?” Ephiny suddenly looked at her suspiciously. “And why are you here, anyway?”

“Because I was hiding in the bushes when they went by,” hissed Gabrielle. “And because I wanted to help. And it looks like it was a good thing I did follow, complete with my useless little knife, doesn’t it?”

Ephiny opened her mouth and then hesitated. “Come on.”

The knife made a long slit in the back of the tent. “I’ll go out the front,” Gabrielle whispered, “So they don’t get suspicious too quickly. I left my clothes behind the laundry tree. I’ll find you there.” Ephiny nodded and slithered through the slit.

It was more frightening to go out the front than to go in, knowing that if Ephiny was caught her bluff would be called instantly, but the guards didn’t seem suspicious. “Wouldn’t eat,” she said to one. “You want it?”

“Yeah,” he said, and took it; his companion began to argue that they should share. She made her way back toward the fire and the women. “Laundry should be dry,” said the oldest woman. “Come on, you four. We’ll get it down.”

And so she had cover back to the tree, and was able to slip beyond it into the darkness, past their careless chatter, to find the leathers. She wasn’t sure she’d gotten all the buckles right, but at least it was on.

She considered trying to return the dress and decided it was too risky; she would leave it behind the tree on the ground, where it might seem to have blown down.

And then Ephiny was beside her. “I _do_ need my weapons,” said the Amazon under her breath. “If they follow—” She broke off as there was a shout. “Hades. Come on.”

Amazons could move both quickly and silently; unfortunately Gabrielle was not skilled at silence, though fear gave her enough speed to keep up. But after a little Ephiny said “Here,” and flung herself up to catch the lowest branch of a tree, and then she was on the limb. Gabrielle gaped. She was not capable of such a move, and knew it.

Ephiny made an annoyed sound, peeled herself out of her leather vest, wrapped one end round her wrist and dropped the other end toward Gabrielle. “Come on!” she said, locking her arm round a side branch.

It was within reach. And Ephiny was... half naked.

“Hurry up!” said Ephiny furiously, shaking the vest at her. Gabrielle gulped, leaped, and grabbed, and then Ephiny was bodily hauling her up onto the branch. “Climb!” she hissed, and was gone.

The vest had been warm from Ephiny’s body. Gabrielle could still feel the warmth in her hands. She shook herself and began to climb. It was easier now, the branches were closer together, but in the darkness under the leaves she had to do it mostly by feel. Eventually she put her hand out to grasp a branch and found it was Ephiny’s bare leg; she jerked her hand back reflexively. “Get up here,” said Ephiny. “We can wait until the pursuit is past.”

The hollow was small, a nook created where three branches met and curved round each other; there was a place to sit in a fork, pressed up against Ephiny on one side and the main trunk on the other. It was not very comfortable, but now she could hear voices below; she froze.

“They went this way,” said someone, “I heard them in the bushes.” Gabrielle gritted her teeth and flushed. They would not have heard Ephiny.

The men were still talking below, arguing about which way to go. She suddenly realized that Ephiny was still half naked; she had not taken the time to put her vest back on. Gabrielle could feel the shape of the Amazon’s breast against her bare shoulder. She swallowed. The breast was soft, an unexpected contrast to the hard muscle elsewhere on Ephiny’s body.

Not that she had been looking.

It was not that she was unfamiliar with the feeling of another woman’s body. She had learned things while a slave, pleasant things, that she had never dreamed of as a maiden in staid Potadeia. But she should not be responding to Ephiny like this. She didn’t even _like_ Ephiny, and Ephiny certainly didn’t like her; it had been obvious that the woman held nothing but contempt for her, and she had made it very clear that she did not approve of Terreis’s granting of Right of Caste to Gabrielle.

None of which seemed to have any impact on the warmth spreading in her belly. It must be the excitement of the chase. Yes, that was it.

Eventually the men chose a direction and followed it, still arguing. After a little Ephiny whispered, “There are too many of them in the woods to chance trying to make it back to our village; you don’t have the skills to move silently or protect yourself. We’ll have to find a place to lay up for a while. I could sleep in the tree, but I don’t suppose you’d like that much.”

Gabrielle suppressed a snarl. There it was again, the contempt. She might not be able to protect herself as well as an Amazon could, but she had survived. She had survived slavery and escaped, and she had survived the aftermath. It should not be discounted as nothing. But she could not say that to Ephiny; the Amazon would not care.

“I would prefer the ground,” she whispered back.

“Then stay here. I’ll be back.” Ephiny shifted abruptly, causing Gabrielle to grab at a branch and stifle a yelp, and was gone.

Sleep in the tree? Of _course_ Ephiny would be able to sleep in a tree. Obviously it was something any self-respecting Amazon could do. Too bad she wasn’t much of an Amazon.

It was much colder in the tree without Ephiny’s warmth. And it felt much less secure, somehow. One never knew what else might be in a tree. There were rustles. It _could_ be an owl, but...

She was very thankful when, a little later, the slight shaking of the tree was followed by a low hiss. “Gabrielle!”

“I’m here,” she whispered back.

“I’ve found a hiding place. Come down.”

Well, that was easier said than done. Going up had seemed relatively easy, spurred by the fear of pursuit, simply feeling about quickly for a branch above and then pulling oneself up. Going down was more—interesting—as it involved lowering a foot above emptiness. The distance to the ground suddenly seemed to increase, the darkness seemed a yawning pit. It didn’t help that her palms had begun to sweat and slid on the bark.

It took starts and stops, and by the time she got down to Ephiny’s level she was shaking, but she got down. The Amazon put a hand on her arm, startling her. “Wait.”

They waited in silence, listening. There were still sounds of men in the woods, but they seemed to be at a distance.

“Are you all right?”

Gabrielle realized that she was still shivering, and Ephiny’s hand was still on her arm. “Yes,” she said. “I’m just cold.”

“All right,” said the other woman. “It’s not far from here.” She had fashioned a staff somehow—Gabrielle realized that the Amazon still had her little knife—and held it ready. “Stay close, and try to be quiet.” She dropped from the lowest branch to the ground.

Gabrielle gritted her teeth and followed.

Ephiny led her for some distance, eventually crossing a small creek by a rockface, and paused. “Give me your waterskin.”

“My what?”

Ephiny huffed impatiently and grabbing Gabrielle’s hips, spun her around. “Hold still.”

Gabrielle felt something pull free from her belt and turned back to see Ephiny shaking out a small pouchlike... thing. “I had a waterskin? What else is back there?” She patted her waist.

“Mostly just you,” Ephiny said as she knelt to fill the skin. “Well, also a bedroll, firestarter...”

“Seriously?”

“Tent, pony...”

“Not seriously.”

Ephiny had found a cave—no, cave was too grand a name for it. It was a crevice, a long narrow one, in a rock face, with an entrance that was low and awkward so that you had to crawl in. It had probably been something’s lair at some time, but there was no sign that anything was currently occupying it. Fortunately.

Once inside it widened slightly and became higher; the hardpounded dirt floor was just big enough for two people to sit or lie. One had to be careful not to move too quickly, as the there were places where the ceiling lowered. “It’s not great,” said Ephiny, “but it’s cover. We can stay here tonight and move at first light. Even if they see the opening, they’re unlikely to think we’re here—it’s much too small a space for most men to get through.”

“I noticed,” said Gabrielle wryly. She had left some skin on the rock on the way in.

It was dark in the crevice apart from a very little reflected moonlight that gave a hint of shapes but not enough for safety when it came to hard rock and tender heads. They settled carefully onto the ground, awkwardly finding positions that were reasonably comfortable.

Sort of comfortable. Likely Ephiny would have preferred the tree.

“The others all got away?” said Ephiny in a low voice.

“I think so,” said Gabrielle. “They ran past me. Someone said you wanted them to get word to Queen Melosa.”

“They had centaur arrows in their stores,” said Ephiny. “It was all a setup from the start. It was Krykus, or at least his men, who killed Terreis. This will mean war. The Queen will move quickly; likely they’ll attack tomorrow. And Krykus knows it—he’ll be prepared. Hades, I wish I had my weapons,” she said furiously.

Apparently the staff, while a valuable tool, was not a proper weapon for so elevated a warrior as Ephiny. Gabrielle felt reproached, and said nothing. There was only so much she could do, and she would not have even known where to start looking for Ephiny’s weapons and armour.

Doubtless if she had been on her own after escaping, the Amazon would have headed back to the village, and likely killed a few of Krykus’s men and acquired the weapons to replace the staff on the way. Gabrielle felt sullen and resentful of the implications of Ephiny staying with her. “If you can get back to the camp, do it,” she said. “I’ll be safe here.”

“No,” said Ephiny. “Amazons don’t desert each other when there is not desperate need. We’ll travel tomorrow, together.”

Gabrielle gritted her teeth. Everything seemed to be a lesson on her lack of understanding. She would never be an Amazon. The Right of Caste didn’t matter; when this was all over she would pass it to someone else, and leave.

It was boring in the cave. It was crowded and dark and chilly and not entirely comfortable. After a little silence Ephiny said with a sort of grumpy conciliatoriness, “This must be very strange for you, finding yourself an Amazon instead of a maiden set to become a housewife in some little village.” She said _housewife_ with a disdain that rated it barely better than stable sweeper.

This was the last straw. “No stranger than being taken as a slave,” Gabrielle hissed. “The contempt of others is certainly the same.”

“I didn’t—” Ephiny began to say in an outraged tone, but Gabrielle rolled right over her.

“And I wasn’t going to be a housewife. I was going to be a bard. I was going to go to Athens and study. I was going to travel. Well, that part came true, if not in the way I expected. But the rest—that ended when I was taken. Including being a maiden.”

“But—”

“I know, I know, women aren’t usually trained as bards. But I have the gift of prophecy; some of my dreams are true dreams of the future. And some—I dream stories. I don’t know if they are true or not. I started to make songs of them. I’m not very good, but the stories are. I wanted to learn to tell them properly. I thought... they might make an exception for me. I had to try. My parents wanted me to marry, and promised me to a man of my village. He is nice enough, but I didn’t want him. I wanted the stories, and the dreams.

“The last dream.... it was about a warrior woman who saved the girls of my village when slavers came. But the next day Draco came, and the warrior didn’t. And we were taken, and everything changed.”

She stopped abruptly. The memory of the shining dream and its contrast with grim reality were too much.

“What do you dream now?” said Ephiny after a moment.

“Nothing,” said Gabrielle in a small voice. “That was the last dream. It is all gone, except sometimes nightmares.”

They sat in silence.

“I’m sorry,” said Ephiny.

“I don’t need your sympathy!”

“It’s not sympathy, it’s an apology,” said Ephiny tartly. “I have made assumptions about you instead of looking at what was there. I was angry because Terreis passed her Right of Caste to an outsider. Thinking of you as useless made it easier to be angry. But I was wrong. You may be foolhardy sometimes, but so am I. You have great courage. You only lack training; you already have the heart of an Amazon.”

“I—” Gabrielle could find nothing to say; she had been girding herself for an attack, and instead—this. Ephiny still sounded cranky, but Gabrielle suddenly wondered if the crustiness was simply a shell. She abruptly felt like weeping, and she had not wept since the first week of her enslavement.

“Tell me the dream,” said Ephiny suddenly.

“What?”

“The dream of the warrior woman,” said Ephiny. “Was she an Amazon?”

“I don’t think so,” said Gabrielle. “She seemed... different somehow.”

“Did you make a song of it?”

“I started to.”

“Then tell me.”

Gabrielle hesitated, then chanted softly, “I sing of the warrior princess, the woman who saved the girls of my village...”

It took some time, and several shiftings of position as they stiffened from the long sitting. Eventually Ephiny wordlessly moved to sit beside her so that their shoulders touched and they could both stretch out their legs.

In the end when Gabrielle’s voice stopped there was a long silence. “You would be a good bard,” Ephiny said finally. “The Amazons do not have bards, but we do have storytellers. Ours is very old. You know her, she has been teaching you history. Perhaps you could study with her. I will speak for you to her, and to the Queen, if you wish.”

“Yes,” whispered Gabrielle. Now that she was not lost in words, she had realized that she was chilled. She shivered.

“Are you cold?” said Ephiny.

“A little.”

Ephiny stretched an arm out and pulled her closer. “It’s all the sitting still.”

The Amazon was amazingly warm; perhaps she was more used to sitting out at night. Gabrielle snuggled into her side and felt her eyes drift shut. It had been a very long and stressful day, and she had not had nearly enough sleep on either of the nights before.

She didn’t know how much later it was when she half woke to find herself still in the curve of Ephiny’s arm, but the Amazon had shifted, and they were lying together now rather than leaning against the cold stone. She was vaguely aware that she had wrapped an arm around Ephiny’s waist, and that her cheek was pressed against Ephiny’s breast. Or more accurately, against the bare skin above the leathers on Ephiny’s breast. It felt lovely. So soft. Ephiny smelled good, like leather and sweat and something floral. She probably tasted good, too. Gabrielle let her lips nuzzle against the flesh at the edge of the leather, not thinking about anything in particular except that it felt good. The bare skin under her hand, where it had slipped under the edge of Ephiny’s vest, felt good too. It all felt good.

And then a hand cupped the back of her neck and fingers slid lightly to touch the skin at the corner of her jaw and back to tangle in her hair again, and she came fully awake with a start and realized what she was doing, and froze. The fingers stilled.

“Do you want this, Gabrielle?” whispered Ephiny.

Did she want this?

Oh yes. She did. She put her lips against Ephiny’s throat and moved her hand across Ephiny’s stomach and made a warm, affirmative sound, and felt the Amazon shiver against her.

The encounters Gabrielle had had as a slave had been surreptitious—the owners would overlook them if they were quiet about it—and generally hurried; no one had wanted to waste time better spent sleeping. This was not hurried at all.

Ephiny shifted, rolling and pulling Gabrielle against her, tangling their limbs, and began to kiss her. Given her abrupt and sometimes confrontational manner, Gabrielle would have expected her to be a forceful lover, if she had thought about it, but in fact she was amazingly gentle. Her lips were lazily teasing, soft and persuasive and gods, Gabrielle wanted more, and she opened her mouth and made a little sound against Ephiny’s lips, and felt the touch of Ephiny’s tongue, and the hand cupping the back of her neck held her head steady as the Amazon finally began to kiss her deeply, finding a slow rhythm.

She moved her hands to find the buckles and laces on Ephiny’s leathers, pulling at them, but every time she unfastened one there seemed to be one she had missed, and she made a sound of frustration, and Ephiny laughed under her breath. “You need more practice with Amazon clothing,” she said, and moved to loosen her vest and then Gabrielle’s, and then lay back and let Gabrielle’s hands roam over her. Her breasts were full and her nipples stiff under Gabrielle’s palms, and stiffer yet under the touch of mouth and tongue.

Gabrielle felt as if she could spend the entire night learning the shape of Ephiny’s breasts and never tire of it. But it seemed that the Amazon was not content only to be touched. Her hands were stretching to find Gabrielle now, to soothe and explore and excite, and now it was touch and be touched and not be sure where the sensations began and ended. And Ephiny’s hands were stroking slowly over her ribs, and Ephiny’s mouth was on her neck, warm and wet and searching, and she had shifted half over the younger woman so that her leg partly pressed down on Gabrielle, and gods it felt _good_ , and Gabrielle felt her hips rock involuntarily against the Amazon. And Ephiny’s hands were touching her everywhere, she felt as if she was on fire, she wanted more, she wanted everything, the feeling of strong hands and soft breasts and hard muscle of arms and legs and back and even belly, the thigh between her legs... It was all too much, and she whimpered, her arms wrapping round the Amazon and desperately holding on, trying to find the ground again.

And then Ephiny’s hand was moving, was between her legs, pushing aside the leathers and sliding under her smallclothes, and gods, she could feel Ephiny’s finger sliding against her, moving in a slow, intense rhythm, no, it was two fingers, and she made a strangled sound and said, “Please.” And she felt the fingers slide slowly, excruciatingly slowly, deeper, and a palm press against her, and the fingers pulled back, teasing, and slid down again, and she was caught, she felt as if she was suspended, as if only the movement of Ephiny’s hand made her real, teased and filled and she had to bite her cheek to keep herself silent because they couldn’t let anyone hear them because oh gods don’t stop don’t stop

When she came to herself Ephiny’s hand still cupped her with a kind of reverent tenderness, unmoving now. “Gods,” she said, and heard a quiet, amused huff of breath, and Ephiny handed her the waterskin she had set aside when they first entered the cave.

“I have been wanting to do that,” said the Amazon.

“I thought you thought I was irritating,” said Gabrielle in surprise.

“You are,” said Ephiny. “You are amazingly irritating.” Her voice was tart and brusque, but her hand was gently stroking Gabrielle’s stomach. “You challenge and contradict all my expectations. You have no idea how annoying that is. You are like an itch that I can’t reach to scratch. You are _unsettling_.” She bent her head and kissed Gabrielle, very gently.

Gabrielle thought that she might finally be beginning to get the hang of this grumpy Amazon. “Being unsettling isn’t so bad,” she said when Ephiny stopped kissing her. “I think it’s a life goal, actually. I can practice my skills on you.”

“You don’t think you’ve unsettled me enough already?” said the Amazon.

“I don’t think I’ve done _nearly_ enough,” said Gabrielle, and pushed her back, rolling on top of her. “I’m only just beginning, and I’m very singleminded and ferocious when I get an idea in my head.” She dropped her mouth to Ephiny’s shoulder and bit gently and heard Ephiny’s breath catch.

It was delightful, making love in absolute darkness, learning someone’s body by touch alone. By the time Gabrielle tugged Ephiny’s smallclothes off and slid down between her legs she had begun to learn the meaning of the changes in her breathing, and how to make her breath stop and start, and then she moved her mouth down to taste the Amazon and heard an entirely new sound, a breathy hiss and a soft thump with a very slight jolt and she thought Ephiny must have thrown back her head as her body arched against Gabrielle’s tongue. She wrapped her arms around Ephiny’s thighs and settled down to learn the finer details of Ephiny’s breathing and exactly how to change it.

When Ephiny’s breath had gone altogether ragged, she began tugging at Gabrielle. “Come up here,” she said hoarsely, pulling her upward, and Gabrielle allowed herself to be pulled up until she lay over the Amazon, who had begun to kiss her again. She let her hand slide between Ephiny’s legs and into wet warmth. “Yes,” said Ephiny into her mouth, and moved against her hand, and Gabrielle felt the heat rising again between her own legs, and rocked against Ephiny’s thigh, and found herself barely able to focus on what she was doing. And then Ephiny made a sound deep in her throat and thrust her hips against Gabrielle’s hand, her fingers tense on Gabrielle’s back, and gave a groaning gasp and shuddered violently under her, and Gabrielle held her and kissed her and then kissed her some more.

One way and another, they didn’t get much sleep that night.

*           *           * ****

In the morning, they did not need to try to find the Amazons; the battle came to them. The sound of shouting, of weapons clashing, woke them. “Stay here,” Ephiny hissed to Gabrielle. “Don’t come out until I come to get you.”

“But—” said Gabrielle.

“I’m going to get weapons, and find the others,” said Ephiny. “You haven’t the training yet to fight in a war.” Then, seeing Gabrielle’s rebellious expression, she stopped. “Please,” she said, putting a hand to Gabrielle’s cheek. “I want to know you’ll be safe until I can come back. Please.”

Oh. Well. “All right,” she said. “I’ll stay hidden.”

“I _will_ be back,” said Ephiny, and kissed her hard, and snatched up the staff, and was gone.

Gabrielle almost thought it would be less frightening to be out in the forest than hidden in the crevice; at least in the woods she’d be able to see things coming. In the cave she kept hearing the sound of fighting coming closer, people crashing through the bushes, any number of disturbing noises, and she kept expecting someone to find the crevice and drag her out of it. But they never did. She began to worry about Ephiny, and what might happen to her. What if she was hurt? What if—no, she would not think of that. Ephiny had said that she would return, and she would. But probably it would not be until the battle was over. That made sense.

And in fact that was what happened. Things had gotten much quieter; the sounds of fighting had stopped, though she could still hear people shouting. And then there was the sound of someone approaching, several someones. She shrank back into the far end of the crevice and hoped her feet could not be seen from the entrance, if those approaching were not friendly.

“Gabrielle?”

A wave of relief crashed over her; she had not realized how frightened she had been, not so much for herself but for Ephiny. But the Amazon was here, and smiling as Gabrielle crawled from her hiding place. Ephiny had a bruise on one cheekbone and a bandage on one bicep, but otherwise seemed unharmed. There were two other Amazons with her, Eponin and a woman whose name Gabrielle couldn’t remember.

Gabrielle wasn’t certain what to do; she was not certain that Ephiny would want to acknowledge what had happened between them. But the Amazon reached out and pulled her into a hug, and said into her hair, “All is well. We have won.”

Eponin looked positively jovial. “Queen Melosa released Phantes, without conditions, when she saw the arrows we found in Krykus’s camp, and he returned to his father with a request for an alliance. The Centaurs came to fight with us, on our side. And when they did we saw that one of the humans from their camp had a dagger identical to one that Krykus bears; they have found their traitor. Together we were able to overcome Krykus’s forces without too many losses. Krykus has been taken captive, and will stand trial for the killing of Terreis.”

“Oh,” said Gabrielle, “I am so glad.”

Ephiny let go, stepped back, and smiled at her. “As are we. It seems likely that we will be able to come to an agreement with the Centaurs now, and there will be peace between our peoples.”

“Queen Melosa has asked to see you, Gabrielle,” said Eponin.

Gabrielle swallowed. “I suppose I’m in trouble for sneaking off,” she said.

“I think the Queen is pleased to find that you are still alive,” said Eponin reprovingly, and Gabrielle ducked her head.

Gabrielle thought of meeting the Queen and was thoroughly unnerved. She ran her hands through her hair and tried to straighten her clothes. She couldn’t do much with the hair without a comb, and the clothing was scuffed and dirty from the night spent on the ground (no, she would not think of that now) and she looked—well, she looked like she had been doing exactly what she had been doing. But the Amazons had been fighting, so they were not exactly at their best either. Perhaps no one would notice. But she wished she could bathe before seeing the Queen; her dishevelment made her feel vulnerable, and she was afraid of what Melosa might say.

It was not far to the clearing where the Amazons and Centaurs had gathered after the battle, but Gabrielle was beside herself by the time they got there. She was a mess, and did not even look like an adult, much less competent. She had gone against a direct order from the Queen; she did not know what the punishment would be, but she was sure that there would be punishment. Perhaps they would rescind the Right of Caste, and she would no longer be an Amazon; and though previously she had thought she could not fit in and planned to leave, now she found that this was a dreadful thought. She did not want to leave the Amazons.

She did not want to leave Ephiny. And that thought was almost as terrifying as her fear of being recaptured had been.

It was only the thought of Ephiny that made it less terrifying. Which was ridiculous.

Queen Melosa still looked somewhat forbidding, but had a lighter air about her than Gabrielle had previously seen. “Gabrielle,” she said when the Amazons brought her forward. “We looked for you last night, and realized that you were gone. It was clear from the tracks that you had followed the others, after being forbidden to do so. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Gabrielle hesitated. She thought of trying to justify herself, and then decided not to. They knew by now what had happened; if they did not think the results justified her disobedience nothing she could say would change that. “Nothing, Queen Melosa. It is all true.”

Melosa nodded thoughtfully. “Such disobedience is unacceptable among Amazons. We are a small band with many enemies. Obedience is far more important than it is for the people of a settled village; the safety of all of us depends on it. We do allow all Amazons to participate in discussion and argument in our planning, but once a decision is made, or when the Queen gives an order, it is expected that all Amazons will obey. If you wish to stay with us you must accept that. Do you wish to stay?”

“Yes, Queen Melosa,” said Gabrielle. She managed to get air into her lungs again. They were going to let her stay.

“Can you agree that you will obey orders in the future, even if you do not agree with them?”

“As long as I have a chance to argue about it first,” said Gabrielle stoutly. It was more than she had ever had with her parents or the village elders in Potadeia, but she thought it worth asking for.

Melosa laughed. “I doubt we could prevent that,” she said. “Very well. You may stay. But still you refused to obey a direct order, and there will be a punishment for it. At the same time, your disobedience put you into a position to help Ephiny, and I take that into consideration. From what she has told us, it seems that you put yourself at great risk in order to rescue her—it is likely that if you had been caught you would have been recognized as an escaped slave, and that combined with your attempt to help an Amazon—well, if they did not kill you your treatment would not have been kind, and you would likely have spent the rest of your life, however long that was, as a slave. Yet you freely chose to take that chance to save a sister Amazon.

“But you are not the only one for whom punishment is due. Ephiny, step forward.” Ephiny did so, her face pale.

“You chose to deal with our enemy, with no consultation or authority to do so, and you know better than Gabrielle that this breaks our custom. But as with Gabrielle’s disobedience, good came of it. I take that into consideration as well.

“Now, as to your punishment: Gabrielle, as you clearly have a great deal to learn about the responsibilities of an Amazon, you will be bonded to another who will teach you. She will be responsible for you, and will teach you properly, and you will listen and learn. And you will also be responsible for her, for we are all responsible for each other. Ephiny, you need to be reminded of your duty, as you forgot it so easily; in teaching you may learn it again. As you have each already shown that you consider yourself responsible for the other’s wellbeing, it is the two of you who will be bound. Will you accept this responsibility, Ephiny?”

“I will, Queen,” said Ephiny, stepping forward. She did not look at Gabrielle.

“And will you accept this responsibility, Gabrielle?”

“Yes,” said Gabrielle, her heart beating hard. It was not really a punishment, and she knew it.

“I did not expect much of you when you came,” said Melosa. “You are a village girl, and village girls learn very little, for it is expected that they will marry and bear children for a man; that is their only duty, and most do not question it. You had also been a slave, and slaves learn too many of the wrong things. It takes time to learn how to be an Amazon after being only a village girl or a slave, and you were both. But you have surprised me. You have surprised all of us, I think. We thought Terreis had made a terrible mistake, and her Right of Caste was wasted. We were wrong. You may not know our ways, but you have an Amazon’s spirit. You will learn, and we welcome you as our sister.” And she stood and bowed toward Gabrielle, who had turned bright red and speechless, and all the other Amazons did likewise.

*           *           * ****

She was uncertain whether Ephiny was as pleased as she was by the Queen’s action in bonding them, but afterwards the Amazon found her and said, “I must report to Queen Melosa, but first I wanted to tell you that she was very happy with you, Gabrielle.”

“I—she—” said Gabrielle incoherently, and then in a rush, “do you mind that she bound you to teach me?”

Ephiny looked at her and smiled. “I am glad of it.” And then she was gone.

Ephiny was busy with the Queen for most of the afternoon, but there were other Amazons who wanted to hear what had happened, and the storyteller was one of them. “You must make a story for our clan of this, child,” she said. “Ephiny has said that you wanted to be a bard; a storyteller does something similar with words, though with a different structure. Talk to me tomorrow, if you wish, and I will begin to teach you how to do it.” And Gabrielle assured her that she would be sure to do so.

That night the Amazons and Centaurs celebrated their victory together in the Amazon village. Things were not entirely easy between them, but a good start had been made, and there was goodwill, and that counted for a great deal. There were new women in the camp, too: the slaves who had been freed from Krykus. The eldest smiled at Gabrielle in acknowledgement.

Gabrielle drank more wine than usual, but was careful with it, and found herself just pleasantly tipsy. She was watching the Amazons dance, slightly scandalized and wondering if this was something that her schedule of lessons would include, as it was certainly very different from the village dances she knew, when a voice behind her said, “I suppose village girls would consider such dances immodest?”

“Oh, absolutely,” said Gabrielle, turning to face Ephiny. “Village girls would never dance such dances. They would be far too busy being immodest with their boyfriends in the barn.”

“And were you one of those girls?”

“Well, my parents had arranged a marriage for me,” said Gabrielle, “and the boy I was promised to would have _liked_ to spend time in a barn. But I was not as enthusiastic as he was. So no; I have no experience with barns. Not in that way, at least.”

“The straw can make an uncomfortable bed when not contained in a mattress,” said Ephiny, and then laughed at the expression on Gabrielle’s face. Then she sobered. “Perhaps you will let me teach you?”

“Are you talking about barns or dancing?” said Gabrielle, and Ephiny laughed again. Gabrielle had never seen her looking so relaxed or smiling so much. The Amazon’s face lit up when she smiled; Gabrielle found herself wanting to bring about that smile as often as possible.

“Dancing,” said Ephiny. “We can do better than a barn. Come on!”

It was not so difficult; Ephiny said that some of their dances did in fact have stylized patterns, but in dances of celebration such as these every dance was an offering, and individual. Once she got used to the idea of not having to move in a particular way, Gabrielle enjoyed herself very much. Amazons didn’t dance in pairs; they just danced, all of them, together. But Ephiny stayed close, no matter where Gabrielle moved.

And she followed when Gabrielle, breathless, left the dancers to find a cask of water in the space between two tents. Gabrielle drank deeply from the cup, refilled it, and passed it to Ephiny. The Amazon drank, watching her over the lip of the cup; her face was mostly in shadow but her eyes glinted. Gabrielle still felt breathless, and she didn’t think it was from the dancing. She put out a hand and let it rest on Ephiny’s waist tentatively. It would have been an improper thing to do in public, with a boy, in her village, but she was not certain what was proper with the Amazons.

Evidently it was not an improper thing to do among the Amazons, or at least not terribly improper, for Ephiny stepped forward and pulled her into a kiss, and it was a very long, slow and sweet kiss that left Gabrielle even more breathless. “I have a hut of my own,” murmured Ephiny. “Will you share it with me?”

“Yes,” said Gabrielle, whose enjoyment of the dancing had been tempered by a very strong desire to find a private place with Ephiny and—

“I will help you get your things,” said the Amazon, and Gabrielle suddenly realized that she was being asked for far more than just one night. She stopped abruptly and stared at Ephiny. Something was fluttering in the vicinity of her stomach. The Amazon looked back, and her smile slid off her face; she suddenly looked uncertain.

“Are you sure?” said Gabrielle, her heart in her mouth. “I am... very irritating.”

“Yes,” said Ephiny. “You are. We have already discussed that. And I am very sure.”

Gabrielle felt something inside relax and stretch out its arms. “Let’s get my belongings,” she said.

In Ephiny’s hut there was already a cleared corner with an empty trunk. “You can put your things here,” said the Amazon.

“You _expected_ me to agree,” said Gabrielle.

“I hoped,” said Ephiny. “I hoped very much.” And moved to kiss Gabrielle again.

It was certainly more comfortable than a dirt floor with no blankets. It wasn’t as urgent as the previous night, it was slow and teasing and if possible it shook Gabrielle even more; she was happy for the drumming, for she was unable to entirely prevent herself from making sounds when Ephiny’s touch finally shattered her. And then she returned the favour; and it was altogether a long time before they slept that night. Gabrielle wondered if there would be time in her schedule for naps during the day, as the nights seemed destined to be so busy.

As she finally dozed off, wrapped together with her lover, she thought that she had never been so happy.

And then very early in the morning, well before the sky began to lighten, she work with a start and sat bolt upright, and Ephiny reached out and put a hand on her and said sleepily, “Gabrielle? What is it?”

“I dreamed,” said Gabrielle, her hands knotted in the blankets. “I _dreamed_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2015 femslash exchange.
> 
> I am enormously indebted to my partner/beta-reader, who first made suggestions and comments and threw out incidental phrases when I talked about the plot, and then took the "final" version and red-lined it, pointing out several plotting and logic problems. 
> 
> "I know what the TV did," she said, "but this is writing and you can't handwave the same things as a low budget syndie."
> 
> "Yes I can!" I said.
> 
> But she was right, and I made the changes.
> 
> (She not only pointed out the problems, she wrote two conversations as prompts to solve them. As she is an excellent writer in her own right and I liked one of them so much, I left it in pretty much verbatim. You can guess which bit it is if you like; I'll confirm if anyone gets it.)
> 
> Anyway, it's been a delight to revisit the Xenaverse after so many years, thank you for the opportunity to play in that world again! I had a lot of fun writing this; I hope you like it.


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